It was the winter of 2002. The Anaheim Angels just won the franchise’s first World Series. Vlad Guerrero still had three working legs. And a speedster with the most improbable spelling of Shawn was the team’s tenth man. Seven years later, the Angels metaphorically moved the team to Los Angeles. Vlad runs like he’s auditioning for Murderball. And the world still tries to figure out why Chone doesn’t rhyme with phone. Luckily, the Angels unloaded Rex Hudler before Chone Figgins went to the Mariners. Otherwise, there would’ve been some real man-tears. (Jose Mota can keep his emotions in check.) So Figgins gets to take his 5 homer, 40 steal self up to the Pacific Northwest. Nothing really changes for him in fantasy. Maybe a few less runs being in a slightly weaker lineup. Figgy do what he do. What I really want to talk about is Brandon Wood for 2010 fantasy baseball.

Like a kid in Porky’s, Wood appears to have finally found an opening. He is an extreme hacker. Last year, Wood stuckout 19 times in 18 games. That’s not just a small sample size talking (size doesn’t matter, so I’ve said), but that’s more or less what we’re looking at with Wood. If he gets in 140 games, he’ll K around that many times. But who cares because the boy has pop. He should easily hit 20 homers with every day playing time. How much above that he goes will be the deciding factor on how valuable he will be. If he can get to 30 homers, he’ll be a late round steal in fantasy leagues. If he only gets 22 homers and hits .250, then he’s waiver wire fodder. Late in drafts, he’s worth taking a flier on for that upside. Another bright side, Wood can handle shortstop and Scioscia’s not afraid to move people around and play him there. Wood may already have eligibility in some leagues at short, but not all. At shortstop, he’s definitely worth a flier in mixed leagues. Best case scenario, Wood gets shortstop eligibility, hits 30 homers and keeps his average around .260. Most likely scenario, he hits .240 and clubs 20 homers at third base. Either way, Brandon Wood is worth a flier in 12 team or deeper mixed leagues and all AL-Only and keeper leagues.

@Ray: i’m betting in YAHOO he has it…. yahoo always seems to be pretty leniant, more so than other sites.

@Grey: ya i was thinking 2nd, ichiro about has to lead off…. those two back to back is going to be some major sb’s and runs…. i could almost see figgins 1st and ichiro 2nd since ichiro would then have someone to drive in or move up with all his hits…

@Tony: I love you man. Just think you are stretching on Figgins. A near career year last year; a contract year. LA scored 883 runs to Seattle’s 640 last year. Just think Figgins’ numbers have to come down this year.

Wait, the Halos ditched Rex Hudler?! Son of a…one of the best “it’s 1 AM on the East Coast and my eyes are barely still open, somebody entertain me and keep me awake while the Red Sox foul off 412 consecutive pitches” color guys you could possibly hope for…

2010 Mini-Donkey award goes to Brandon Wood. Promise. Oh, ok, maybe just will have similar value from where he could be drafted. That is, if all the baseball “insiders” don’t continuously hype him like Wieters was last year.

@Grey: I have a guess, and I think you sorta hinted about it in an article a week or so ago – Kyle Blanks? He is more like Adam Dunn is now (aka, no speed). Anyway, I am looking forward to whom you’re going to give that award to.